This gadget does exactly as promised: it looks like a thumbdrive (sort of) and fries the circuitry of any computer it’s plugged into. It’s made from camera flash parts, is charged with a standard AA battery, and delivers a 300V zap of DC destruction to the port for all your USB-murdering needs. Note that this […]

The Cobham catalog, exposed by The Intercept, features countless pages of surveillance gadgets sold to U.S. police to spy on American citizens: tiny black boxes with a big interest in you. In the creepily bland feature lists and nerdy product names is a whisper of a dark future; perhaps darker than anyone can imagine.

This image depicts the most commonly-found stylesheet colors on the web’s top sites—Paul Hebert did an amazing amount of analysis and this is just one of the intriguing visualizations he came up with. Most of these are obvious staples, especially HTML red and blue, though it’s interesting how far the blue “cluster” is from the […]

The Boing Boing Store’s Gift Guide is full of ideas for pretty much anyone in your life like hipster ice cub trays, Xbox controllers, Halo Boards, and even diamond necklaces. As always, all products in the Boing Boing Store come at great discounts, too. Shop by price bucket starting at under $20. Under $20:Bloxx Jumbo Ice Trays […]

Unlike traditional lighters, the SaberLight features an electronic plasma beam that’s both rechargeable and butane-free. This sleek lighter is even approved by TSA, so you’ll never be stuck buying lighters you’ll just have to throw away partially used. For some people, like me, this is a pretty big game-changer. The SaberLight’s beam is actually both hotter and cleaner […]

Holiday shopping is in full swing, and the Striiv Touch is one of the best gift ideas I’ve landed on. Its simple design works for females and males, and its wide range of features makes it suitable for even the non-fitness enthusiasts in your life.Unlike traditional fitness trackers, the Striiv Touch also acts as a smartwatch. It […]

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I never did order one of these, but I understand they turned out to be made of cardboard. Admittedly $6.98 for a 7-foot long cardboard sub still sounds like a pretty good deal, or at least it would have seemed that way to me growing up in a neighborhood where there wasn’t a nearby body of water big enough to hold a real submarine.

These things are a right of passage. Everyone should experience the let down of that ‘magical’ bit of retail. (Remember Alphie from ‘A Christmas Story’ and the Little Annie Decoder Ring?) Took my nephew to a carnival and I let him blow his cash on the midway. At the end he exclaimed, “I spent $20 to win a blow up sword?!”

My mother and father spent HOURS putting this thing together. There were lots and lots and lots of little fasteners. My brothers and I loved it. Then my obnoxious cousin came to visit. He put his feet through the bottom so he could wear and completely destroyed it. For the record, my brothers and I have NEVER forgiven him. We still loathe him.

Honor House was Ripoff Central. Their 6-Foot glowing ‘Frankenstein’ was printed on a sheet of garbage bag-like white plastic & came w/ a tiny sheet of glow-in-the-dark adhesive paper to be cut up for highlighting parts of the image. The ad was misleading. Their “Floating Ghost” was worse. Even as a 9-year-old, I wrote a complaint letter & received no reply. Better to DIY for Hallowe’en.

Pretty sure I mentioned this last time around, but there’s an early CSI:NY episode where ‘our heroes’ eventually find out a motive for murder was watching someone’s little sister drown in their cardboard sub because the ad never mentioned it couldn’t actually float. The murder weapon was a souped-up exploding cigar given to the joke-shop owner that advertised them in the comics. Quality television.

I was a sucker.I was completely convinced that if Granny would just let me send in the 6.98 & 3 quarters,I would receive a (presumably thick-plastic) totally functional, small electric submarine.We were going to take it to the family cabin on the lake.I was going to show everyone,I was going to show them all….

I really, REALLY wanted one of these when I was in second grade, but who has $6.98 + 75c? A year or two ago I ran into a classmate I hadn’t seen in decades. He asked if I ever get the submarine. Nope, never did. Probably better that way.

I remember it was the spring of ’91 Chris Peterson and his father went down off the coast of their bathtub in one of these, never to be heard from again. Although some say that the series went on for two more seasons, I think that’s just the legend talking.

I have fond memories of seeing this in the back of the ten cent comics I used to buy at the corner shop. The guy kept them all in steel hoppers separated by horror comics, superhero comics, and “other”. I remember graduating from bin to bin over the course of a few years as I got older. But I never graduated from wishing I had the mail order toys. I never got the sub, but I got Roman soldiers with catapults that made me incredibly happy.

I got one of these as a present when I was little. It was super awesome. As were the gigantic Flintstones Building Blocks. I suspect you had to both possess a wicked imagination and be young enough to appreciate these things. http://lauriekendrick.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/flintstone.jpg?w=640

I really don’t understand how, but as a kid I had an instinct this was all somehow crapola. I was familiar with the huckster phenomenon, probably from movies and animated shows, and the ads dripped of that funky salesmanship. Was also always depressed by the quality of toys at 5 and dime stores. But I definitely did look longingly at those ads thinking, “wow, sneezing powder.. wouldn’t that be awesome..”